All the Connections “Yellowjackets” Makes Between Lottie, Her Cult, and the Symbol in the Woods

“Yellowjackets” is full of mysteries about the team who survived the plane crash in 1996 and their adult counterparts in the present day. There’s, of course, the looming threat of cannibalism, which will at least determine who makes it out of the woods. Then there’s the fate of Shauna’s baby, which is still up in the air. But there’s also the cult that Lottie – who became the Antler Queen in the 1996 timeline – seems to be running in the present day, based on some of the more mysterious and mystical things the girls experience in the woods.

Ahead, we break down everything we know about the cult – and the symbol that seems to be at the center of it.

What Is Lottie’s Cult on “Yellowjackets”?

Lottie’s cult kidnapped Nat in the season one finale as she was considering suicide inside her motel room. The kidnappers took her somewhere seemingly in the middle of nowhere and hand-cuffed her to a bed in their compound. However, Nat outsmarts her jailer and runs into the compound where she sees Lottie doing a very Antler Queen-esque ritual with some of the people gathered there. We don’t find out what it all means before the episode ends, but it seems like bad news.

Some have also speculated that adult Travis, who died during season one, has a connection to the cult. In the first episode of season two, we see that, in 1996, Lottie was able to get through to Travis and help him cope with his panic attacks and anxiety. Could that connection have continued into the future? Lottie tells Nat that she has a message from Travis, but we don’t know what it is yet.

What Does the “Yellowjackets” Symbol Mean?

Both the cult and the girls’ time in the forest have something troubling that connects them: the symbol or rune that pops up everywhere. It was on the postcards that were sent to the adult Yellowjackets to scare them, it’s on jewelry worn by the cult members, and it was seemingly present at the site of Travis’s death. The survivors of the plane crash first see the symbol carved in a tree near the cabin where they find refuge, and it’s also carved into the floor of the attic. The Yellowjackets are drawn to it, and Lottie draws it on the glass in the cabin.

The symbol itself resembles a stick figure of a girl, impaled on a hook and flipped upside down. The show has yet to say what exactly the symbol means, but fans have lots of theories.

Some have guessed it’s supposed to be Hobo Code. Homeless people historically have used coded drawings to pass information along to each other, and the code could have been made to warn people to stay away from that cabin. Others think the symbol is more directly linked to cannibalism. Some also think that it’s actually a map out of the wildness, or some sort of equation that would help the survivors find civilization. Another theory speculates that there is really some dark, evil force in the woods and the symbol is protection from it.

The symbol, the cult, and their connection remain a mystery for now, but we can’t wait to learn more.

New episodes of “Yellowjackets” premiere on Fridays on streaming and Sundays on Showtime.